ASR technology enables microphone-equipped computing devices to interpret speech and thereby provide a “hands-free” alternative to conventional human-to-computer input devices such as keyboards or keypads. For example, vehicle telematics systems can be operated using ASR to provide automated services to a user.
Good performance of vehicle telematics ASR usually depends greatly on acoustic conditions such as vehicle background noise. Vehicle background noise is influenced by several factors, such as microphone position and settings, traffic, road conditions, vehicle speed, wind and rain conditions, air conditioning settings, passenger noise, and audio device settings. As one solution, ASR systems can include noise reduction algorithms. But sometimes vehicle background noises overwhelm such solutions, and ASR performance degrades to an unacceptable level. In these instances, service users can become dissatisfied with ASR-enabled telematics systems and services.